COMPETING
Competing is meant to be exciting and fun, but it can also be stressful and anxiety causing. Not only are meets usually busy with multiple events happening at the same time, but athletes often think of them as a test of their skills, abilities and training. Learning to manage these stresses is part of being a successful athlete and competitor. Being prepared with a routine is helpful in giving athletes a feeling of control. The following provides some direction for parents and athletes.
WHAT TO BRING
We encourage our athletes to have a competition bag that they keep stocked with their essentials. Athletes should always pack competition clothing, racing shoes, extra socks, their Ocean race singlet, pins, sunscreen, a hat, rain gear, warm clothing, water, healthy snacks, a copy of the meet schedule and a list of their registered events. Athletes should confirm their registered events by using the "Confirmation List" feature (filtering by "Registrant Name") on the Trackie registration page.
AT THE MEET
Please arrive at least 1 hour before your athlete's first event. Some meets operate with a rolling schedule, which means events can run up to 30 minutes ahead. When you arrive on site, please look for other Ocean athletes. The club will send at least 1 coach (often several) to all supported meets. Ocean coaches are there to help Ocean athletes warm up and support them if they have competition questions. Athletes are responsible to know the event schedule and which events they are registered in. Ocean coaches are not responsible to get athletes to their events. Some meets, but not all, will have announcers calling athletes to events. Please listen carefully. For those meets without announcers, athletes need to pay attention to which events are happening so they can predict when their event will occur.
WARMING UP
Part of our training is learning to warm-up properly. Each practice starts with 15-20 minutes of general warming up drills.These are the same exercises that our athletes should be doing 20-30 minutes prior to their event. Athletes can warm-up by themselves, with a friend or with the Ocean coach onsite. Warming up not only prepares their body for competition, but it gets their mind ready too. We encourage our athletes to develop a consistent warm-up routine. This will help them work through their pre-competition nerves.
PARENTS
Although it's easy to get excited and want to lead nervous athletes to their events (or get a better view for pictures and videos!) parents are not allowed in the competition areas (track or field). Athletes need to get used to managing themselves. One of the benefits of attending meets as a club is for our athletes to support each other.
RESULTS
All Ocean hosted and supported meets are sanctioned. This means the results are official as the events are managed by BC Athletics officials. Our athletes are required to be polite and follow instructions from officials. If you, or your athlete, have a concern about an event after it has happened, please speak with an Ocean coach on-site. If it is something that needs to be addressed with an official, an Ocean coach is the best person to do so. Please do not approach officials, or the timing area, directly.